1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector for a flexible printed circuit board for use in connecting the printed circuit board fixed on a fixing plate to an external circuit through the flexible printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well-known in the art to apply a method in various kinds of electric parts such as variable resistors or switches in which a printed circuit board having some circuit patterns formed thereon is fixed on a metallic fixing plate and a flexible printed circuit board is overlapped on the printed circuit board and both connecting terminals are made to be electrically conductive in the case that the electric parts are actually loaded on a printed circuit board at a main body of equipment under application of this fixing plate, thereby the circuit patterns in the printed circuit board are connected to an external circuit through the flexible printed circuit board.
As a connector means applied between such a printed circuit board and a flexible printed circuit board as above, there has been proposed to provide a connector for the flexible printed circuit board comprised of a press contacting rubber mounted on the flexible printed circuit board overlapped on the printed circuit board and a holding member fixed to the printed circuit board through the press contacting rubber as already described in the gazette of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. Hei 4-36779. This holding member is formed with an engaging piece and a snap piece, wherein after the engaging piece is inserted into a recess formed in the printed circuit board, the holding member is rotated with the recess as a fulcrum point, resulting in that the snap piece is engaged with the end surface of the snap piece.
In such a connector for flexible printed circuit board constructed as above, when the holding member is fixed to the printed circuit board together with the press contacting rubber in accordance with the aforesaid procedure under a state in which the flexible printed circuit board is overlapped on the printed circuit board, the flexible printed circuit board is forcedly contacted with the printed circuit board by a resilient force of the press contacting rubber placed between the holding member and the flexible printed circuit board, resulting in that each of the connector terminals of the printed circuit board and the flexible printed circuit board is connected to each other at their press contacted portions.
However, due to the fact that the prior art connector for the flexible printed circuit board described above was constructed such that the holding member was fixed to the printed circuit board through the press contacting rubber, resulting in that as the plate thickness size of the printed circuit board was made thin as the electric parts were made thin, there was a problem that the printed circuit board was deformed by a resilient force of the press contacting rubber, the positional displacement of the connector terminal was produced or poor contacted state was generated. In addition, since it was required to perform an operation to rotate the holding member with the recess as a fulcrum, a wide space allowing a rotation of the holding member had to be kept above the printed circuit board, resulting in that there was also present a problem that a space efficiency at the main body of the equipment was reduced.